


stories

by michaelnatural (calebwidogast)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, some description of bones breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calebwidogast/pseuds/michaelnatural
Summary: when sam winchester drags michael into the cage, he knows he's in for a fight that will last until the universe dies.he doesn't expect the fall to wake adam up in his head.
Relationships: Michael/Adam Milligan, if you squint
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	stories

he’s still adjusting to the feeling of all but two of his wings curled up into adam milligan’s fragile ribcage, all of his eyes and faces stuffed into this tiny body. with his true form tethered into this human skin, he can feel everything in a way he never would, ordinarily. it aches. the cage burns around him, so unlike the cool stillness of heaven.

lucifer, his face glowing through sam winchester’s body, seems used to the place, but that does nothing to temper his rage. michael can’t tear his gaze away as he watches lucifer rip at the soul inside his vessel.

michael is finally starting to get his bearings when lucifer wheels around and lunges at him, throwing his vessel into an iron wall. his wings do nothing to stop him and he feels the pressure of adam’s shoulder blades cracking. a hand tightens around his throat, holding him in place.

adam yelps in pain in his head, and michael nearly jumps. he shouldn’t be awake.

“i thought maybe dad just wanted a villain.” lucifer snarls, with sam’s mouth. “and then i thought that maybe i could make you see it.”

michael doesn’t struggle- just focuses on healing adam’s bones as he listens, so that when lucifer lets his guard down he’ll be ready.

“but you’re just as _‘good’_ as he is. i gave you your chance to walk away and you spat in my face, because you’re daddy’s perfect little boy, like you’ve always been! he told you to cast me out of heaven, just because i had the mark and i could see the filth in the humanity he created.” lucifer says.

michael just narrows his eyes.

“you did it because you’re weak. you did it because you care more about his misled mistakes of creation than you cared about your own brother. and then when he told you to put me here, you didn’t even think for a second. _i_ didn’t betray _you_ , michael. you left me to rot.”

michael can hear adam’s panic in his head. michael can’t focus well enough to shut him up, yet, and he’s too overwhelmed with heat and lucifer’s lies that he’s angry enough not to care much about it, now.

“you did this! you’re here because you’re the firstborn and the blindest out of all of us to dad’s games.” lucifer snaps, and michael can’t stand to hear another traitorous word.

he waits until lucifer leans in again to snarl another lie, and when he’s close enough michael reels his head back as much as he can against the iron and swings forward to headbutt him so quickly it disorients him for a moment, because as strong as he might be, he’s still not used to this form.

lucifer stumbles back for just a moment, a hand coming up to his now streaming, crooked nose, and then looks up and both his and sam’s eyes are alight with malice michael has never seen, not even the first time he damned lucifer to the cage. his grace cracks at the edges of sam’s form and his wings start to unfurl.

michael lets his wings crack through adam’s ribs and ignores the screams he can hear. “you made a grave mistake, letting him drag me in here with you.”

lucifer falters for a moment and michael can pinpoint the exact expression on his face because that’s still his brother, under sam’s form. it’s the same expression he wore when they made their first mistake in heaven and both knew that they would be found out. fear. just for a second, it crosses lucifer’s face, and as highly as michael thinks of himself, he knows it isn’t about him.

he laughs. “you’re afraid sam will take his body back again. let you be torn to nothing. i hope that he does.”

\---

sam hasn’t won his way out of lucifer’s control for more than two seconds at a time, but michael can’t help hoping he figures it out, if only to make things interesting. he can’t help but consider the rage at the human that grows with every one of lucifer’s attacks.

their first battle is coming to a close, after a long month of being broken and healing and being broken and again. lucifer is getting sloppy, and if he knows his brother he knows that he’ll soon turn to evasion to regain his strength.

michael means to put him out first.

enough careful planning with gabriel, before he abandoned them, has given michael insight that lucifer never had. with archangel blood and a vessel as a container, there’s a way to put an angel to sleep for half a century, at least.

when lucifer lunges again, michael has it in his mind to snake his hand around and snap his neck- but lucifer shifts and suddenly a hand is plunging into adam’s gut, past michael’s swirling form, directly into adam’s soul.

every atom screams out in agony. it jolts michael so severely that for a moment he can’t move- adam is so loud in his mind that he can’t hear anything else- and then he falls backward and carries adam’s soul just out of reach.

adam continues screaming. michael grits his teeth in rage and pulls further back to recover. he might have been hoping that sam would surface for long enough to make sure he feels it when michael breaks every bone in his body, but lucifer reaching for adam’s unguarded soul is fighting even dirtier than michael thought possible.

lucifer laughs, and it incenses michael even more. “oh, feeling protective of the little guy, huh? that’s not like you- i’ve seen all those burnt through vessels.”

michael bites his tongue and feels blood start to pool in his mouth as he stares lucifer down.

“i didn’t think it was possible, but you’re even more pathetic now than i remembered.” lucifer says, and steps up again.

michael’s ready. he knows lucifer won’t immediately try the same thing again, so he catches his hand when it arcs towards michael’s face, and snaps the bone in his forearm. he pulls his arm down just enough so that they’re eye level, and spits his blood out into lucifer’s eyes.

lucifer startles back, and michael hooks his foot around one ankle and takes him toppling to the ground. he starts reciting the words as he raises his arm, and his elbow strikes down and through the dip in lucifer’s collarbone as he says the final word.

adam is still screaming, michael thinks, his voice ragged and only just starting to quiet slightly. lucifer lays still.

he thinks about how this can put an angel to sleep for half a century, and about how if they were on earth like they were supposed to be, he would be able to smite him and be done with it. he wonders how long the spell will last on an archangel.

if he can get adam to shut up, he’ll probably have a few years of silence.

he lets himself retreat for a moment into whatever room adam has conjured up for himself. he finds adam, one hand clutched to his chest, the other clutched in a fist against a window that stares out to nothing. adam has his head lowered so his chin is almost tucked into his chest, and he’s finally stopped screaming in pain- now he just shakes.

“you’re supposed to be asleep.” michael says.

adam whips around. michael supposes he probably sees another version of himself, and the way he twitches his hand while he watches michael’s confirms it. adam struggles for a moment to speak, and then finally asks, “how long has it been?”

“a month.” michael says. “i have to assume that you’ve heard enough to understand your- our situation.”

adam’s hand falls away from his chest. “why are you in here? why isn’t he attacking us?”

“a spell. he’s asleep, for now.” michael explains. he pauses and then stares without blinking as he adds, “i can put you to sleep, as well. you only woke because of the fall into the cage.”

adam’s eyes twitch around the room. “how do you know i won’t wake up?”

michael pauses and thinks for a moment. he’s never been in a vessel so close to his sword before. things are different. imperfect, but only just. “you shouldn’t. though i suppose because you did before, you could again.”

“jesus christ.” adam mutters. he stares up at the ceiling for a moment, and then looks back at michael. “no. if i wake up because he’s breaking my spine again, i- i’d rather see it coming.” he says, his tone steady despite the panic michael can still sense.

“there’s a chance you won’t wake up.” michael tells him.

“which means there’s a chance i do, and i don’t know about you, but i don’t like being woken up with my arm getting pulled out of its socket.” adam says. “don’t put me to sleep.”

michael has been in adam’s body long enough that he finds the urge to roll his eyes almost unbearable, but he resists. “right. so what will you do while we wait for my brother to wake? what about when he’s awake and fighting me again?”

adam looks around, and then steps over to the other side of the room where there’s a bed and a table beside it. he picks up a book from the table and says, “i’ve read it before, but it’ll do.” he opens it and falters. “oh.”

“what is it?” michael asks.

“it’s empty.” adam says, and stands staring at it for a moment before he whips it across the room. “damnit.”

michael stares.

“do you mind?” adam finally snaps after what seems like a while. “if you get to have my body, just let me have my mind.”

michael snorts at the indignity of it. “you said yes to me.”

“and you let us get dragged to hell, so i guess we both made a mistake.” adam says.

michael feels himself puff up in anger, and adam finally looks a little frightened. he stares until adam looks away, then lets his own gaze drop to scan the room. “what is this place?”

“uh. my bedroom.” adam says, his voice clipped. “can i still sleep without you magically doing it? so i’m not completely unaware of things.”

“...i suppose.” michael says, his patience ever-thinning. “is this your plan? to stare at nothing or sleep fitfully for eternity?”

adam rolls his eyes. “yeah. can you let me go ahead and do it?”

michael senses the unspoken thought that adam lets cross his mind, and scoffs. “adam, the winchesters have no way to open the cage again. with god absent from heaven, this _is_ our eternity.”

adam looks around like he’s looking for something else to throw. he clenches his fists and pauses for a moment before he finally says, his voice overly calm, “please. i just gave up everything. i was happily dead. please just leave me alone.”

michael sighs, but figures if he’s going to be stuck in this human’s body, he can afford him some of the things he asks. he blinks and when he opens his eyes again he’s staring at lucifer’s vessel on the ground in front of him.

\---

michael is pacing. he’s been pacing for days, because there’s nothing to do but pace. he’s leaving adam alone, like the human asked, because he finds that the aggravation of dealing with him sounds less enjoyable than pacing, currently.

he’s still pacing several weeks later when from in his head, he feels adam jolt in fear.

he scans the cage for any signs of movement, and watches lucifer for a long moment before retreating into adam’s mind.

adam is on his bed, sitting with one leg pulled up to his chest and one splayed out in front of him like he has been for a day or so now, but now he’s staring at the closed closet door.

“what is it?” michael asks.

adam hesitates for a long moment. “you would know if there was something else in here, right?”

“yes.” michael confirms. “i’m the only foreign presence. why?”

“i, uh. nothing.” adam says, and drags his eyes away from the closet.

michael hears the unspoken thought. “what did you see?”

adam’s eyes snap to his, narrowing into a glare. “stop doing that.”

“...i’m in your head.” michael says.

“figure it out. if i’m stuck with you forever i’m allowed to have some damn boundaries.” adam says, but his bravado is undercut by whatever sight it was that shook him.

michael thinks for a moment. he knows enough about humans to know what they can’t handle, and he remembers something one of his brothers once reported to him. “humans break down in isolation. you must be hallucinating.”

adam continues to glare. “great. thanks, for that. maybe whatever just opened the closet will kill me.”

michael rolls his eyes. “this would be easily solved by my putting you to sleep.”

“no.” adam says.

michael blinks himself back to the cage. if adam wants to go insane in his own mind, michael will let him, and then he’ll put him to sleep when he gets too annoying to let him stay awake.

\---

michael can sense adam’s growing discomfort and anxiety over the next few weeks, but it’s easy enough to tuck away each time its volume heightens.

he’s run through every order he’s ever given four times in his head, and he’s on his third time recalling the steps to locking away the darkness when he hears something that grabs his attention.

“michael.”

he immediately darts his eyes to lucifer, but he still lies in sam’s body, motionless but for the occasional breath his body automatically takes.

“ _michael_.” he hears again, and realizes that it’s adam’s voice. he scans the cage again before he retreats into adam’s mind.

adam is curled up in the corner of his bed, his back to the wall, the heels of his hands dug into his eyes.

he looks pathetic.

michael watches a moment, and adam raises his voice a little as he calls, “ _michael_.” again, like he’s annoyed, but michael can sense the undercurrent of fear.

“adam?” michael announces himself.

adam’s hands pull away from his eyes as his head snaps up. his eyes take a moment to focus, but when they do he breathes out slowly.

“have you finally decided to go to sleep?” michael asks.

“no- no, i don’t want that. just.” adam grits his teeth like he’s annoyed at himself. “there’s nothing. there’s not even sound from out there.”

michael sighs. “why am i here if not to put you to sleep?”

“talk. er- please. just talk.” adam says, holding michael’s gaze for a moment with his darkly ringed eyes. “i literally don’t give a shit what about.”

michael narrows his eyes, but when he thinks about it, it makes sense. if isolation is driving him slowly insane, asking michael to talk is his last resort without having to be asleep.

his stubbornness reminds michael of dean. he almost scoffs at the thought, then realizes that’s as good a place to start as any.

“you’re like your brothers.” michael says.

adam squints. “yeah?”

“pig-headed.” michael says, and when adam opens his mouth to talk, michael cuts in with the story of the time he took john winchester as a vessel.

\---

michael talks. he tells stories about great battles and he recalls the firsts of humanity. adam asks a question and he answers with as many words as he can, because truthfully, he had started to feel the effects of being isolated, too.

so he’s telling adam about the first time humans made music, and how intrigued his father was that humans could create in that way. michael says, “i think that out of everything my father has created, humans really are his favorite. you surprise him- or, did. when he was there to watch. i suppose you probably still do, wherever he is.”

adam lays on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he listens. “have you prayed to him? to save us?”

michael falters and thinks about how he has been, between every thought, since they started falling back in the cemetery. “i… have.”

adam looks over and quirks an eyebrow. “how’s that goin’?”

“my father left heaven for a purpose. i may not know it, but it must be important enough that-”

adam snorts. “right.”

michael narrows his eyes. “you think you know better?”

“i know christian guilt when i see it.” adam says. he turns and props himself up on an elbow as he adds, “you think this is your punishment. for not killing lucifer up top. but you’re praying just in case.”

michael wonders if this is how adam felt when he read his thoughts before. he wades through his anger and shame and then finally says, “i had a destiny to fulfill. i would have brought my father back to heaven.”

“i don’t think you had a say in that.” adam says, shrugging and falling back onto the bed. “i think god’s going to do what he’s going to do and if he’s left us here for this long, he’s not coming, no matter how loud you ask.”

michael wants to smite him to nothing but ash for a combination of reasons, but instead he closes his eyes and when he opens them back up he’s in the cage, not adam’s room.

adam calls after him, sounding irritated, which only aggravates michael more, so he tucks the sound into that quiet corner he’s gotten good at mostly blocking out.

\---

finally, his boredom outweighs his annoyance, and michael does his usual scan of the cage before retreating to adam’s room.

adam has his wordless book open beside him where he leans against the windowsill. michael watches as he tears a page out, crumples it up, and tosses it over to the trash can he seems to have moved from beside his desk.

“hey.” adam says simply, ripping out another page.

“what are you doing?” michael asks.

“what’s it look like? trashketball.” adam says, like michael’s an idiot.

michael can feel his annoyance starting to creep back up past boredom. “right. of course.” he shakes his head and says, “what happens when you run out of paper?”

adam shrugs. “maybe if i try hard enough i can imagine up a new book. or a ds, i think i remember pokemon pearl well enough that i could actually play it.”

michael stares.

“if i figure it out i’ll teach you how to play.” adam says, throwing another crumpled ball of paper.

“i have no interest.” michael tells him drily.

adam shrugs again. “suit yourself, i guess.”

michael is about to blink back into the cage, because this might be more useless than pacing, when adam makes a noise of surprise. michael’s eyes lock back on him.

he flips the book so the pages face michael. “there’s a line in here! i remembered this specific one, so i guess it got to stay.”

michael hums in acknowledgement.

adam flips the book back to himself and rips the page out, but instead of crumpling it up he crosses the room and puts it on his bedside table. he reads the line as he smooths the page down. “ _i’m a strange new kind of in between thing, aren’t i?_ ”

“you only remember one line out of that whole book?” michael asks.

“i mean, i remember how the story goes, just not the specifics.” adam says, sitting back down on his bed and throwing the book down with its wordless pages open.

michael can’t imagine it. he remembers in detail everything that he’s ever witnessed, and the idea of not always having the context of his own history is unsettling. “that’s a pity.”

“gee, thanks.” adam sighs. “you really never forget _anything_?”

“no. i remember the moment i came to be, and everything i’ve witnessed since then. angels are our own reference.” michael says.

“you’d have been nice to have for literally any test i ever had to take.” adam says, and trails off a moment before adding, “jesus, i never thought i’d miss taking tests.”

michael doesn’t have a response for that. his annoyance hasn’t gone completely, but it’s the first time adam has brought up anything about his life, which seems infinitely more interesting than pacing and staring at nothing. he thinks for a moment until he finally comes up with, “you were… in school, before you died, correct? for medicine?”

adam snorts. “aren’t you supposed to know my whole life story? you knew sam and dean’s.”

michael pauses. “well, you…”

“i know. replacement sword, whatever. yes, i was gonna be a doctor.” adam says. “i just really thought they’d have filled you in a little before you possessed me. or maybe you’d look around at the files up here.” he gestures toward his head.

“you asked me not to read your mind. i have tried to honor that, since we’re sharing space.” michael says.

adam looks at him drily. “my body. you mean we’re sharing my body. because you’re possessing me and took over just so that we could sit here for eternity until we both go insane or until lucifer wakes up and finds a way to kill us.”

michael rolls his eyes. “right. my apologies.”

adam sighs and shakes his head and lays back on the bed, his legs still dangling off the side. michael takes to pacing adam’s room, because at least the sights here are a bit less bland.

after some length of silence, adam asks, “what’s it like having brothers? i mean, besides wanting to kill them, because i get that.”

michael knows he means sam and snorts because he feels the same way about him. he thinks for a moment and finally says, “i didn’t always want to kill lucifer. i still don’t, not really. i know i have to, as part of my destiny. part of righting his wrongs. but he’s my brother, and i can’t forget the time before he was lost.”

there’s just silence, and michael looks over to find adam staring at him as if to say, ‘go on’, like when michael tells stories of battles or humanity from his perspective.

so michael tells him. “when we were first created, there was nothing to be responsible for. nothing to guard or to watch over. we played. we fought, but the way that brothers always fight. i think our father saw the way that we were and gave that to humans, when he finally made them. our time before responsibility became a model for the way he wanted human children to interact.

“we helped make the garden. lucifer and i tested it out, made sure that everything was as it should be. we didn’t know what it was for. god let us explore it before he let raphael and gabriel in to check after us for mistakes.” michael nearly smiles as a bitter thought hits him. “i think god was the only one who knew lucifer was my favorite brother.”

“man.” adam says. “you really _wouldn't_ be that bad a guy if you didn't have such a terminal case of 'head stuck up your own ass'.”

michael shoots him a glare, the fiercest he can manage while the beginnings of creation are still on his mind.

“i’m just saying. maybe you guys coulda talked instead of you throwing him out because dad said so. we’re here ‘cause he spent a billion years being pissed at you.”

“he betrayed heaven. he betrayed me and our father. he chose his path and was punished for it.” michael snaps, and blinks his way back to the cage before adam can say anything else.

\---

it’s a while before he returns to adam’s room.

he spots the book, first, torn completely empty of its pages, the spine tossed carelessly onto the desk. michael looks around and finds adam folding one of the pages.

“what are you doing?” michael asks.

“paper airplane.” adam says, and creases the paper a final time before picking it up, closing one eye, and tossing it directly at michael’s head.

michael ducks and the paper sails over him. “really?”

“not much else to do.” adam points out. “that was the last page, so don’t crush it, please.”

michael narrows his eyes, and then turns to retrieve the paper airplane to inspect it. “it doesn’t look like an airplane to me.”

adam rolls his eyes. “you aren’t exactly a creative. send it back.”

michael has the distinct sense that adam meant that as an insult, but he doesn’t see why it would be. he flicks the airplane back over to adam.

“not bad.” adam says as he catches it. “you got a story you’re itching to tell? it’s been weeks, and it’s a little boring up here with just a party of one.” he taps his temple.

michael scoffs. “i’m not one of your books.”

“you said you were like a reference, right? you’re your own book. read a chapter.” adam says as he puts the airplane down and goes to sit on his bed. “seriously, i’ll even say sorry for pissing you off.”

michael raises an eyebrow. “a tall order for you.”

“yeah, tell me about it. so, uh, sorry. for pissing you off.” adam says.

michael sighs. the indignity of it is very obvious, but he’s been bored out of his mind for weeks, too. “fine.”

he talks. he paces as he does, avoiding the creaking floorboard by the closet door with each round. this time he tells adam about the other angels’ creation, how he was immediately more than just a big brother, how it meant ranks would have to be formed.

when the story is done, he looks over expectantly, waiting for adam’s commentary. instead, he finds that adam has dozed off- the natural way, the way michael has sensed rarely before but never seen.

it occurs to him that adam must have some amount of trust in him, now. he _hm_ s, and then blinks back into the cage to let him sleep.


End file.
